France works on new immigration law, critics call it unbalanced

During the last week of February, the French government introduced a draft of a new immigration bill, which aims at simplifying the asylum process and will be passed through the Parliament in the upcoming months.

According to the draft, migrants will have less time to apply for asylum and to appeal against rejection. On the other hand, the detention period before deportation will be extended. France continues to tighten its immigration policy and, according to aid workers, pressure on migrants has gradually increased since President Emmanuel Macron was elected. The draft has already been criticised by NGOs working with migrants and has been described as unbalanced and too repressive. Critics further argue it also does not address several important issues, such as the European asylum system and in particular the Dublin Regulation. Efforts to urgently deport asylum seekers who have been found to be economic migrants are mounting in response to the declining but continuing migration wave across the Mediterranean. FRONTEX reported that last year African nationals accounted for almost two-thirds of illegal arrivals to the EU's shores and the pressure of irregular migration at the southern border will persist at a very high level in 2018.